The Straw Hat Pirates in Water City
"Ah? Sanji, your nose is bleeding!"
Merry had too much food in her hands, and she reflexively stretched out two tentacles. One of them took the handkerchief from Sanji's hand and wiped it for him worriedly.
Another tentacle pulled Sanji into his arms, and his head was fixed upwards, looking up at the sky.
"What's going on? Are you okay? Did you eat too much and get a sore throat? Why are you suddenly bleeding from the nose?"
Merry got closer and closer. Sanji looked at the pink and golden hair swaying in front of him, his pupils contracted violently, and his mind was in a trance: This is heaven~~~
"Ahhh, what should I do!!! Why is it flowing more and more?" Merry blocked Sanji's nose with her hands in a panic.
"No...it's okay...I'm fine." Sanji came back to his senses, reluctantly pushed Merry away, and raised his hand to cover his nose in embarrassment.
"I'm so happy!" Sanji's voice was so low that he seemed to be talking to himself. His golden bangs fell down, covering the emotions surging in his eyes. "It's just me and Melissan. It feels like... a date!"
"Ah? A date?" Meli blinked when she heard that. Her eyes were as clear as the sky after rain. "What's a date? Can a date cause a nosebleed? What a strange disease."
"No, a date is just..." Sanji's face flushed instantly, his handkerchief completely stained by the blood from his nose, and his voice was dry. "It's just the two of us going shopping together, eating delicious food together..."
In the end, Sanji was a little unsure. After all, he had never been on a real date, and all his theoretical knowledge came from books.
Meli didn't even think about the "date". She tilted her head and thought about it. They were indeed shopping and eating delicious food.
"Then we are indeed on a date." Merry nodded seriously, his eyes sparkling. "Dating is really fun. Next time, let's invite Luffy and the others and go on a date together."
Sanji was stunned for a moment, and his nosebleed stopped abruptly. He then burst into laughter. "That's not what I meant, but," he paused, a bright smile on his face, "it's really quite interesting. Let's get everyone together and go out on a date together next time."
"Yeah!" Meili jumped happily, turned around, and continued to wriggle forward. "Let's go, let's go on our date and eat some scalloped pork!"
Sanji followed with a smile, "Okay, by the way, this handkerchief is dirty, I can't wipe Merry-chan's face anymore."
"It's okay," Merry raised his hand. A small stream of water emerged from his fingertips, gently brushing across his cheek, rolling up the sauce, and then falling into the water channel beside him. "Actually, you don't need a handkerchief."
"This ability is really convenient." Sanji praised sincerely, and caught a glimpse of a familiar figure out of the corner of his eye. "Eh? Is that Robin?"
He subconsciously turned around and looked back, but the crowd was so crowded that he could no longer see the beautiful figure.
"Sanji-san!" Merry had already run to the food stall in front and was waving at Sanji, "Come over here, there's delicious food here too!"
"Ah, maybe I saw it wrong." Sanji looked away, a smile spreading across his eyes again, "I'm here, Merry-chan~~"
......
"Oh no! Sanji!"
Chopper, transformed into a reindeer, came running towards them, his voice urgent and panicked.
"Robin, Robin is gone!"
"What?" Sanji's face became serious. "Calm down first and tell me in detail what's going on."
"I, I entered the bookstore first..." Chopper finished his story stumbling, his eyes full of helplessness, "What should I do?"
"Don't worry, Robin might have just gotten lost accidentally." Sanji said soothingly, concentrating on thinking, "So, the person I just saw was indeed Robin-chan."
Merry, standing by, felt like he was struck by lightning. Scenes of long-forgotten memories such as huge waves, artillery fire, duels, and Judicial Island flashed through his mind one by one.
Oh no! This is the Water City!
She has been reborn for too long, how could she have forgotten this crucial point!
A chill ran up her spine, and Mellie's face suddenly changed. She quickly shook her head, getting rid of those bad memories. "No! We must find Robin as soon as possible!"
Sanji and Chopper didn't ask any more questions and nodded at the same time: "Okay!"
The three of them quickly rented two blue boats and sailed around the waterways of the Water City, looking for someone.
"Robin—"
"Robin—"
Blue swung his tail fin, leaving the houses and arch bridges behind him.
Chopper's nose twitched wildly, searching for Robin's scent.
"No! The smell disappears here!"
"I also have a bad feeling and feel uneasy."
"Huh? Do you need me to diagnose you?"
"Idiot! I'm not sick, I just remembered my previous encounter with Aokiji."
"What's wrong, Aokiji?"
"Anyway, let's go back to the Merry and reunite with everyone."
Blue swung his tail and turned, swimming towards the Merry with Merry and the other two.
Suddenly, Meili's vision went dark and her cheeks flushed abnormally.
It was so hot… Without warning, she collapsed onto Blue’s back.
"Doctor, doctor, doctor, doctor!" Chopper screamed in panic.
"Chopper! Calm down! Aren't you a doctor?"
"Ah? Yes, that's right, I'm the doctor!"
Sanji picked up Merry, and when his palms touched the extremely hot temperature, he couldn't help but frowned: "Chopper, come here quickly!"
He held Merry in his arms and jumped onto the cobblestone path beside the waterway.
"Here I come."
Chopper forced himself to calm down and hurriedly opened his backpack.
Mellie half-opened her eyes, her vision blurred, and she barely moved her mouth: "Don't worry about me... find Robin first..."
"Okay, okay, don't worry, we will definitely find Robin back."
"I'm fine... Let's find Luo first..."
"No! The temperature is still rising! It's too high, this is not an ordinary fever." Chopper was so anxious that tears fell.
"Don't be anxious, stay calm, you are our ace ship doctor," Sanji freed up a big hand, placed it on Chopper's head, and rubbed it a few times soothingly.
"Yeah. Phew, we have to get back to the Merry for medicine!"
"Okay, let's go back now."
Sanji carried the unconscious Merry horizontally, and he and Chopper got back on the Blue ship and rushed back towards the Merry.
Merry nestled limply in Sanji's arms, twitching slightly occasionally.
Sanji couldn't help but tighten his face, his eyes looking frighteningly serious.
When they rushed back to the Merry, Luffy and Nami also happened to be running back.
"Oh no! Robin's missing! Merry's sick!"
"Oh no! The money was stolen! Usopp was beaten!"
Chopper and Nami spoke at the same time, and both sides were stunned again.
How could this happen? The money was stolen, Merry was unconscious, Robin was missing, and the Merry could no longer sail. All the bad news came at once, pouring buckets of ice water on everyone's heads.
Everyone was excited and sad, but now was not the time to indulge in grief. There were more important things waiting for them.
"Luffy, Zoro and I will go get the money first," Sanji suggested calmly. "Chopper and Nami-san will stay on the Merry and take care of the unconscious Merry. If Robin-chan comes back, at least there will be people on the ship."
"Yeah." Zoro picked up the sword and nodded in agreement.
Luffy lowered his straw hat, the shadow under the brim hiding the emotions surging in his eyes: "Let's go, friends."
......
Meli felt as if he had turned into a sail, detached from the mast, and fell, and all his consciousness continued to fall.
The keel was completely broken deep down, and every scar was a memory of the adventures they had shared.
The bow that was broken off after crossing the Upside-Down Mountain, the mast that fought the "Promised Battle" with Lab at the Twin Capes, the hull that was eaten by Wapol, the deck that was pierced by a cannonball in Alabasta...
She fell, and fell again, and faintly heard Chopper's anxious cry, Sanji's suppressed concern, Luffy and Usopp's argument, and Nami's suppressed sobs...
Meli wanted to wake up, but her consciousness seemed to be imprisoned by something and she couldn't move.
"Usopp, I've decided to change ships." A deep voice sounded in the darkness.
It's Luffy!
He made up his mind with difficulty, "Let's say goodbye to the Merry here."
Meli felt as if something was gripping her heart and was very sad.
Usopp's voice suddenly rose in the darkness.
"Are you going to leave your most important friend to die without helping him?"
In the darkness, Merry "saw" Usopp angrily rushing towards Luffy.
"You bastard! Are you abandoning your friends!?"
"Merry's keel is broken, it has..."
"Luffy! I misjudged you!"
"If you have any problem with me, then start..."
"Assholes! Calm down, you two! What nonsense are you talking about!"
......
The sounds of the argument kept echoing in her ears. Meli tried desperately to open her eyes, but her eyelids seemed to be glued shut and she couldn't open them at all.
Everyone, stop arguing!
It's all my fault.
Regret and self-blame formed a vortex, dragging Merry's consciousness into an even darker place.
If only I were stronger and more powerful, I could carry everyone farther.
As soon as the thought came to mind, his tightly closed eyes trembled slightly, and a clear blue tear slid down from the corner of his eyes.
Meili followed that blue tear, going down and down...
The noise around gradually turned into the sound of water, first the gurgling of water, then the rumbling of tsunami, and finally into a slow and huge heartbeat.
Dong-dong-dong-dong
Each sound pulled her deeper.
Deep in the darkness, a giant egg is suspended, wrapped in layers of blue.
Azure, ice blue, dark blue, dark blue, indigo...
She couldn't help but move closer, and the blue automatically separated, revealing a passage with an empty throne at the end.
Beneath the throne, countless phantoms are crawling.
The next moment, those phantoms suddenly shattered, falling into waves all over the sky, reflecting a series of phantoms.
The waves rolled back, swallowing Meli whole and dragging him into the whirlpool.
Crack~~Her body was instantly shattered into countless water droplets.
Each drop of water reflects a different view of the sea, but it is put back together in the next moment.
Constantly breaking, reassembling, and breaking again...
Meli felt as if he had become a knife that had been repeatedly hammered by the sea, and was gradually being polished into another kind of existence.
The calls of sea kings could be heard all around, one after another, long, moist, and layered.
[God of the Deep Sea~~Return~~]
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